Social Media

SEARCH SHOWDOWN: Microsoft's Plan to Win the Search War

The search landscape has dramatically shifted in the last three months, and it's all because of Microsoft. First, Microsoft revealed Bing, its new and rebranded search engine. The tech giant then went on an advertising and promotion spree. Still, that was nothing to the blockbuster Microsoft-Yahoo search deal that now gives Microsoft huge ammunition in its war with Google.

Recently, I had the chance to chat with members of the Microsoft team and learn more about the challenges they believe they face in the search market as well as their plan to overcome and dominate the search engine landscape. A few interesting tidbits were revealed, like who they are targeting, how they intend to reach them, and what has to be done for Bing to have any chance in its uphill battle.

Bing's Holy Trinity

While most people think that search is essentially a numbers game (the more people you have using your search engine, the better), Microsoft actually divides its target audience for Bing into three main categories. They are as follows:

Consumers: This the largest and most obvious target. Microsoft need more eyeballs and more searches. What's interesting is who they are targeting and how they are reaching them. I discuss that in the next section.

Advertisers: Advertisers are just as important as the users of Bing because, let's face it: they pay the bills. Microsoft has stated on multiple occasions that they believe they have a better return for their advertisers and better qualified traffic. I was told specifically that the conversion rate for Bing is also higher than it was for Live, a very good sign.

Developers/Webmasters: Microsoft is really learning from the success of the Facebook and Twitter platforms. On both, 3rd party developers drove new apps and big innovations for both by using application programming interfaces (APIs). Bing looks to do the same. So far, they have over 14,500 developers signed up for the API, with the two biggest examples probably being Careerbuilder and, of course, Facebook.

People underestimate the power of the third party developer. Twitter has received significant press and users due to apps like TweetDeck and Summize, the search app that Twitter acquired and transformed into Twitter Search. It's those kinds of apps and acquisitions that can really change the game.

Microsoft knows who it's targeting. The question is how to reach them.

The Strategy, Part 1: Change Perception

One of the most difficult things to do in business is to change consumer behavior. Getting people to switch brands just doesn't come easy, and Microsoft is well aware of the uphill battle it faces.

The search engine market is, for the most part, mature. That's not to say that search engines have reached their apex in terms of functionality (the Bing team strongly feels that search can do far more), but that you're not going to find many customers who've never used a search engine. Instead, it's about taking market share. In the case of search, that would be Google.

To win the search war, Microsoft is implementing a two-part strategy focused on changing consumer behavior. The first part of that plan is to change perceptions. Users see Google as the best search engine around, or perhaps just the only one that they need. The challenge is overcoming the "if it works, why switch?" mentality (something highlighted in a Catalyst usability study last month). Microsoft is attacking those perceptions on two fronts:

Microsoft isn't just spending ad money randomly though; they do have a target audience: heavy Internet users. Specifically they are targeting early adopters, more advanced searchers, and users more willing to try out new things and potentially switch. According to the Bing team, heavy Internet users make up about 39% of the search market and over half of all searches, so it absolutely makes sense. These people also tend to be thought leaders, and the Bing team realizes that personal referrals are best way to get people to switch.

So why are Bing ads on Hulu, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and The Daily Show? Because they are all used by the heavy Internet user demographic. This is the current Bing advertising strategy.

Community: Advertising is a top-down approach to reaching the consumer, but Microsoft wants to reach thought leaders and get them on Bing. This is why it also has a bottom-up community-oriented strategy to changing user perception. This is where Bing's social media initiatives come into play. Everything from Bing jingle contests to @Bing on Twitter is being used to build an active community that will evangelize Bing to others.

Microsoft also monitors social media buzz for the major search engines. While buzz in the past generally reflected the search engine market (aka Google dominating the buzz), Microsoft's gained in buzz since it launched Bing. The question of whether that elevated chatter continues long after Bing becomes novel has yet to be answered.

The Strategy, Part 2: Drive Trial

Part 2 of the Microsoft search strategy is straightforward: drive trial. The more people use it, the more inclined they should be to use Bing as their preferred search engine. Microsoft believes that Bing speaks for itself, plain and simple. You'd expect that from most companies and their products.

The Microsoft plan for driving trial is also divided into two primary approaches:

Distribution: Microsoft has a huge asset in its bid to upstage Google, and that is its distribution channels, most of them from Windows. You have a better shot at adoption if you expose consumers to Bing from the start. Become the default on Dell and Lenovo laptops, get on Verizon phones, and get exposure as part of Facebook search. It all helps.

Going to the people: Microsoft realizes that they're not going to get everyone to Bing.com, so the other part of their plan is to bring Bing to the people. Get search on mobile phones, encourage developers to build 3rd party apps, and encouraging the installation of browser extensions are all part of that initiative. Make it as easy as possible for the user to find and interact with Bing.

However, it feels like Microsoft's taking a different approach to the search war, one that has already shown results. While Live Search wasn't really positioned as anything beyond a Google alternative, Bing's features and image are targeted towards the heavy Internet user, at least to start.

It's tough to see any circumstance where Bing overtakes Google in search. However, anything can happen, and Microsoft more than ever is gunning for Google's stranglehold on search.

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